Fr. Richard OMOLADE

Things are changing but maybe not as far as some of us would want it or in the direction that we would like. There is a clearly discernable apathy among the youth when it comes to spiritual or religious matters. 

The story is that many young people no longer go to Church and even their parents cannot force them. They have seen and heard enough for them to make their choice. Large Churches have failed them, ministers have exploited them, and sugar-coated pastors have promised them heaven on earth and left them at the pit of hell while they cruise the city in Porche vehicles. To say that the youth are disinterested is to say the obvious, they are also dismayed and angry and reaching the boiling point, where an outburst will do no good to anyone of us. 

At the same time, we see Churches where the youths are doing fantastically well, generating and implementing uncommon initiatives, and positioning themselves and their communities to be better served by the world of technology and AI. What is going on in your Church?

Are the youth in your Church still fighting over who would be president or lack of funding from their pastors or the reluctance of the parents to release them for Church activities? Future oriented youths have left that space, aware that there are lots of opportunities to deepen their faith and leave their mark for the people of God to see. The Church of our youth is a challenging Church, and the youth are ready to face that challenge, powered by AI and the ICT.

Gone are the days of waiting for priests to supply all the answers, now they will easily ask ChatGPT for the answer and the way forward. This set of youth do not need a policeman-pastor but a pastor with a vision and leadership skills to lead them along the path of true life. Such a pastor must not be dogmatic, but persuasive; intelligent, yet humble; proactive, yet doctrinally sound; active, and socially vibrant. The space for ministry for this type of youth and pastor may no longer be the four walls of the Church, but they will reach millions before our physical Churches are filled up.  These Churches must be created and not willed into existence. Thus, all well meaning people must be proactive to put in place structures that will engender the kind of atmosphere that will help our youth to think about God and serve God.

Is your Church welcoming, engaging and relevant? These values are not in the realm of rocket - Science and should be made available easily.  It is essential that all, are made to feel welcome in our Churches, we all must therefore display warm attitude to first comers and introduce them to the rest of the community and help them in their process of integration into the community. This will help them to believe they are welcomed in this new space. Once they feel at home, they are ready to work for God through the Church.

In this regards, the community should help them develop personal relationship with Jesus. Knowing doctrines and Church traditions are essential, but these cannot replace personal encounter with the Lord of all life. Consequently, the study of the word of God must occupy a pride of place, so that people get to truly know the man of Galilee as He calls us to walk with him. The young ones will always need mentorship, our communities must therefore be places where sufficient adults are available to help the young ones through their own examples and inspiring lives.

For Pastors, worship must be designed meticulously to be engaging and participatory. Songs must be such that they are easily learnt and inspiring to people. The use of multimedia will also go a long way to help the youth participate more actively. Pastors of Churches must also provide opportunities for the youth to render services to the community.  Such areas as providing social media skill, ICT skill, mentoring other young ones or other members of the community that many need skills where the youth are provident will show them that the community values them and gives them a sense of purpose.

The Church of today must be international about her activities especially with regards to our children and youth, otherwise, these groups of people may not be there to be served as is often the case in many parts of Europe.  It is true that Christ has left us a blueprint for His Church, but there is a lot more that we can fit into that scheme to make it appealing to the people of our time, especially our young ones. The old may not be too comfortable with certain aspects of this reality, but they must also experience it to appreciate it and be assured that the future will be in good hands. 

It cannot always be complaints, let us design something now and try it out to know what works and what does not work instead of waiting to react when things are no longer under our control.